Wednesday, November 13, 2013

My publisher responded to my agent about a sequel submission
I sent recently. They graciously responded that some revisions were needed.
They’d be happy to look at it again if I were willing to revise. Good news,
right? That’s not a rejection, but a revision. Love it. Went to sleep that
night with a plan of action.

2:00 a.m. Woke up with self-doubt. Can I really rise to the
next level with this story? I have a “no whining” policy for myself, but I did
allow 30 seconds to lament my current time constraints. Pity party over. Now I
need to listen to the Father. These are the thoughts that came to me.

Revision has one of my favorite words in it. Vision. Websters: the ability
to see : sight or eyesight, : something that you imagine : a picture that you
see in your mind :something that you see or dream, especially as part of a
religious or supernatural experience.

I need to “see” my story again. This is how I need to do it.

Revisit my publisher’s imprint.
Did I submit a work that was outside their guidelines? Also, revisit the
formula for my genre. For instance, a romance generally has two POVs, the hero
and heroine. I’d fallen in love with the developing romance of some secondary
characters and gave them too many scenes in their POV.

Research for some wisdom about
writing sequels. Writing and publishing has been quite a learning journey for
me. I need to keep educating myself about my passion.

Rely on the revision suggestions
the editor made. I may have submitted the sequel with confidence, and be
totally attached to my characters and story, but the editing team for my first
book really made me look good. Their opinion will help me succeed this time as
well.

Refocus on my take away. I need
to redefine what I want my readers to get out of this work. That eases the pain
of having to change some things that I felt attached to in the story that will
simply have to go. If my original vision remains, I’m still doing well.

Looks like rewriting this book will be my project for National Novel Writers
Month this year. We’ll be in the middle of that when this posts. If you’re
participating, I hope you’re having fun.

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